Business plan approved for cycle track between Daventry and Braunston

Daventry District Council reached an agreement last July to construct a track from Farnborough Drive in Middlemore to the Canal & River Trust track near the mouth of the Braunston Tunnel.

An agreement was reached with Christ Church College in Oxford, which owns the land, to build the track, with an anticipated budget of £730,000.

And on Thursday (December 3) full council approved a business plan which will kick start the physical process of getting the track built.

Councillor David James, the portfolio holder for regeneration, said: “It’s something that has been in the eyes of the council for a long long time and finally we’re getting somewhere with it. We could get a start on this before the end of DDC’s life on March 31, and it’s a project of £730,000 that we have budgeted for.”

The business plan outlines how the design is due to be finalised this month, with the anticipation that the council’s planning committee will grant planning permission in February, with a main construction contractor being appointed at the same time. It’s hoped construction work will start on site in March 2021 and finished a few weeks later in June.

But a report from Simon Bowers, the council’s executive director for business, concedes that it will not be possible to confirm the costs until tenders have been returned and evaluated.

And Labour councillor Stephen Dabbs said he could not support the scheme because of a lack of detail in the business plan. He said: “I’m in favour of off road cycling schemes and this is potentially a good idea. But this is unfortunately not a business plan because it has only the vaguest of costings in there. I would want to see details of who is going to use this.

“Have we done any research with employers in Daventry on the north side whether their employees will use it. If they all live in Rugby they won’t use it. If one person in Braunston uses it then it saves a car journey, and that’s brilliant but is it justification? It’s £1,000 a metre but how many electric car charging points could we install with that?”

But independent councillor Jason Pritchard said: “This has been rather protracted but it doesn’t take away from the tenacity of officers. It’s a really robust business plan. The vast majority of people wanted this built, though there were a very few people who objected.”